Rubber Stamping Ideas: Greeting Card Sentiments Made Using Sentiment Stamps

Do you have unused sentiment stamps in your stash of craft supplies? If so, use these ideas to kickstart your rubber stamping and get your money's worth out of those stamps.

Craft Supplies You Need

Pen and paper for writing down ideas

White cardstock plus cardstock in a variety of other colors

Optional: papers with subtle patterns in light colors

A variety of inks and ink pads for stamping

Pens and markers in different colors

Scissors with fancy decorative edges

Depending on your stamp, you might need a variety of templates in various shapes - oval, circle, square, rectangle etc. The opening in each template should be the right size for drawing around your stamped image.

Optional: colored chalks, paints, glitter, inks or other similar craft supplies

Stamping the Sentiment

There are many different possible ways you can stamp each sentiment. The easiest way to vary the look is to change the ink color. Stamp each sentiment onto white paper using different ink colors: pinks, reds, browns, greens, blues, purples, etc. Leave enough space between stamped images to allow for cutting them out later.

Then try some tonal color combinations: Stamp the image in dark blue ink on light blue paper; stamp the image with burgundy ink onto pink paper; stamp the image in dark green onto light green paper, etc.

Next, try interesting classic color combinations; black ink on colored papers, brown ink on colored papers, navy blue ink on red paper, etc.

Next, try interesting mismatched color combinations - green ink on pink paper, for example. You can dress these stamped images up and make them look more interesting using colored chalks, colored pencils, glitters and paints.

Cut Out the Stamped Sentiment

The stamped sentiments don't do you any good until you cut them out and use them, so that's the next step.

Depending on the stamp, you might need to do an intermediate step as well - outlining the image. Take a look at the stamp I used in the photo collage that accompanies this article. I've used the Can't thank you enough stamp from my Stampbox's Oval Office clear stamp set as an example; you can see that it's already in an oval shape. I don't need to outline the stamped image, but it also limits how much variety I can get out of this stamp.

With a stamp that is already outlined, just choose a pair of scissors - perhaps a fancy scalloped pair of scissors, perhaps a pair of pinking shears with zigzag edges, or perhaps a plain pair of scissors with a straight edge. Cut around the outline with the scissors. Then color in the area between the outline and the decorative edge.

If your sentiment stamp does not have a border, your next step is to give it one. To do so, take one of your templates - a circle template, an oval template, a square template, a rectangle template, or any other shaped template - and, using the template to guide you, draw around it with a marker. Then choose your scissors, cut the image out, and color in the edge with a marker.

Ideas for Using Your Sentiment Stamps

Brainstorm and write down all the ideas you can think of for using each sentiment stamp.

Let's use the "Can't Thank You Enough" sentiment stamp as an example. This stamp is part of the "Oval Office" clear stamp set by My Stampbox. You can adapt these ideas for use with any similar "thank you" stamp. The most obvious use for this stamp: making thank you cards. There are plenty of other ways to use it:

How about using it as the focal point for a Mother's Day card? Or a Father's Day card? Mother's Day and Father's Day are good opportunities to thank your parents for all the things they do for you.

Use it to embellish a gift or card you give to your spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, or best friend, thanking them for being a part of your life.

Use it to embellish scrapbook layouts where you journal about people who have been influential in your life.

Attach a stamped sentiment to gift tags or gift wrap when you give gifts to your child's teacher, your pastor or other trusted religious leader, or any other individuals you'd like to thank for their contributions or presence in your life.

Make Your Projects

The next step is to use the stamped images in the projects you brainstormed. You'll probably have more stamped sentiments than time to make projects, but that's OK - organize your stamped images neatly with your other craft supplies, and they will be ready to use next time you need to make a quick card, gift tag, scrapbook layout, or other paper crafts project.